Contents

Plot Summary

Will and Jack go ice fishing. They catch a trout and hand the fish to Hannibal so he can cook it. During dinner, Hannibal declares that they have moved past forgiveness and apologies for the things they have done.

In a horse stable, a stable manager finds a dead horse lying in his stable. Upon examining it, he finds stitches on the horse. He cuts the stitches and is frightened when a dead woman falls out of the horse's womb. The FBI are called in to investigate the scene. Hannibal and Jack arrives to look at the body. Hannibal postulates that whoever did it wanted to give bring the body back to life.

In Hannibal's therapy room, Hannibal listens to a woman named Margot Verger as she recounts how she attempted to murder her brother. After listening to her, Hannibal subtly suggests that she should kill her brother when she knows that she won't be caught.

At the crime lab, the FBI take the body of the woman in the horse and do an autopsy. They learn that the woman is named Sarah Craber and that she was strangled to death. With further examination of the body, they find a bird trapped inside her chest.

Will and Jack interview a man named Peter Bernardorne, who had previously worked at the stable. After seeing him, Will suspects that Peter knows who killed Sarah. After 16 graves are found by the FBI, Will returns to Peter to interview him. He learns that Peter's social worker might be manipulating him from behind the scenes. Peter's social worker, Clark Ingram, is then taken in for questioning. While Alana tests Ingram's emotions, Will and Hannibal come to the conclusion that he is the killer. Though they suspect that Ingram is the killer, the FBI is forced to let him go due to lack of evidence.

Will and Hannibal rush to the stable because Will fears that Peter may be in danger. They find Peter sewing Ingram into the horse. Will takes Peter aside and confesses his admiration for taking action against Ingram. Peter admits that Ingram is not dead. Ingram emerges out of the horse. Will tries to shoot the man, but Hannibal stops him.

Cast

Hugh Dancy as Will Graham

Mads Mikkelsen as Dr. Hannibal Lecter

Caroline Dhavernas as Dr. Alana Bloom

Laurence Fishburne as Jack Crawford

Scott Thompson as Jimmy Price

Aaron Abrams as Brian Zeller

Katharine Isabelle as Margot Verger

Jeremy Davies as Peter Bernardone

Chris Diamantopoulos as Clark Ingram

Martin Julien as Stable Hand

Doug Hughes as Veterinarian (as Douglas Hughes)

Christine Ebadi as Sarah Craber

Trivia

Showrunner Bryan Fuller stated in an interview with AV Club that the writers had originally intended to have a killer emerge from a dead horse's body in the episode Coquilles. The writing team would later remove the horse scene because they had thought it would be too much to have man being hanged and a man coming out of a dead horse in the same episode.

The bird inside Sarah Craber's body was originally intended to be dead in the draft.

The episode title "Su-zakana" is a word for a dish that cleanses the palate. This is a appropriate title because the episode is the first episode of the second season to have a self contained case that ends in one episode after a string of serial episodes.

In the novel, at this point in the story, Margot is six years old as opposed to being an adult.

In their adaptation of Mason and Margot Verger, the writing team generalized the sadism from molesting Margot as a young girl to general violence. The writers felt that the storyline was too dark and they did not want to tell that story.

During production of the episode, idea of a human being stuffed into a horse was often called a turducken. The turducken is a dish consisting of a deboned chicken being stuffed into a deboned duck, which is also stuffed into a deboned turkey.

Quotes

William Graham: "This wasn't murder,Jack. This was grief. "

Hannibal Lector: "How does it feel to be consulting with Jack Crawford again? Last time, it nearly destroyed you. "

Will Graham: "Last time, you nearly destroyed me. "

Will Graham: "His eyes are dead. He is a predator. "

Will Graham: "I know what it is like to point at a killer and have no one listen. "